The Allahabad High Court has sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission over the alleged illegal deletion of 32 persons' names from the Panchayat voter list of a village in Balrampur district.

A Bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Abdesh Kumar Chaudhary was hearing a writ petition filed by Santosh Kumar and 31 others, alleging that their names had been illegally deleted during the revision of the electoral roll.

The petitioners submitted that their names were not included in the final Panchayat Electoral Roll 2025 of Gram Panchayat Roopnagar, Block Tulsipur, District Balrampur.

They further alleged that the names of Respondents 6 to 53 had been illegally added to the voter list despite the fact that they were not residing in the village.

Taking note of the submissions, the High Court directed that notices be issued to Respondents 6 to 53.

The Court also directed Respondents 1 and 2 to file a counter-affidavit, indicating and bringing on record the basis for deleting the petitioners' names and adding the names of Respondents 6 to 53.

The matter has been listed for December 15 within the first ten cases.

Recently, the High Court sought an explanation from the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission authorities over the omission of 138 Amethi residents' names from the final voter list, despite their inclusion in the draft electoral roll and without notice to the persons concerned.

A bench of Justice Jaspreet Singh sought the response while hearing a writ petition filed by the 138 affected residents of Gopalpur village, Gram Panchayat Mahmoodpur Benipur, Block Amethi, Tehsil Amethi, in Amethi district.

They submitted that their names had been included in the electoral list for approximately a decade and were also present in the draft list. However, their names were missing upon the final publication of the electoral roll.

During the hearing on October 9, the Court asked the Additional Chief Standing Counsel to explain the procedure, rules and process under which names could have been deleted from the electoral roll.

"...once the names were their in the earlier list including the draft list how the names could have been deleted while making the final publication and that too without being concerned person to notice", the single judge questioned.

The State sought time to examine the matter and obtain instructions.

According to media reports, the villagers have been alleging that around 200 living people were missing from the final voter list, while the names of around 50 deceased persons continued to figure in it.

They claimed that their complaints were not addressed despite a survey by Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

Additional District Magistrate Jyoti Singh, meanwhile, said that the matter was pending before the High Court and that no final order had been received from the Court. She said further action would be taken in accordance with the Court's order once it was received.